Pocta veľkému maliarovi Rudolfovi Krivošovi

Rudolf Krivoš,
born on 16th November 1933 in Tisovec, is the only living member, and a co-founder,
of Mikuláš Galanda Group. The works and the 1957 manifesto of the Group played
a crucial role in the struggle for a modern art in Czechoslovakia. The Group
members held group exhibitions between 1957 and 1968, with the first public
display taking place in Žilina and the last one in Berlin. They were friends
who met during their studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. Not
having a joint artistic programme, they were bound together by a negative
attitude to the official doctrine of socialist realism. But above all, they
were charismatic personalities with individual style searching for their own
way.

During his studies at the Department of
figural painting led by Prof. Ján Mudroch Rudolf Krivoš stood out for not only
his talent but also a broad range of knowledge and diligence. He graduated in 1956
with a diploma thesis for which he was awarded the Academy Prize. It did not
take him long to find his own artistic expression; his individual style began
to develop as soon as in the early 1960s.

The exhibition at the Mirbach Palace shows
seventy-one crucial works loaned by ten Slovak galleries, the National Bank of
Slovakia, the artist himself and seven private art collectors. Due to the fact
that Rodolf Krivoš took an active part in the selection of works, the
exhibition presents a brand new view of his body of work. And here we are not
only talking about so far unpublished paintings. No art historian would dare to
limit the selection of works for retrospection with the year of 1990. In the
following period, the artist made many remarkable paintings, however, he did
not want to put them on display and he also decided not to show any of his
landscapes.

The preparation of the exhibition has
taken almost two years. It was a collective work and I would like to thank all galleries
and private collectors who were very helpful and loaned us works for the show. It
is interesting that the request for loan has only been rejected by those who
received paintings as a gift from the artist. I would also like to express my
gratitude to all those who took part in this difficult project, namely a
specialist adviser I. Jančár, an author of texts for the publication J. Mojžiš,
an ambitious graphic designer A. Andreutti-Pokorná, and A. Sopková from the
Bratislava City Gallery.

The outstanding body of work of Rudolf
Krivoš constitutes an important part of Slovak cultural heritage. And Slovakia
should take a good care of it and guard it like a treasure.

The photographs of works of art, promoting the exhibitions held at the City Gallery of Bratislava, published on the website, are subject to copyright protection under the Copyright Act. The City Gallery of Bratislava is not a copyright holder; it is the artist, or his/her heirs. The work of art becomes free more than 70 years after author´s death. The photographs of works of art published on the website can only be used with the prior written consent of the artist, his/her heir, or institution representing artist´s rights, otherwise it shall be regarded as copyright infringement.